President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has opened criminal investigations into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey for their roles in the discredited Trump-Russia probe.
According to senior DOJ officials, FBI Director Kash Patel authorized the investigations following formal criminal referrals from CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The investigations center on misconduct related to the 2016 election intelligence assessment and the subsequent weaponization of federal agencies against President Trump.
The move comes after Ratcliffe declassified a damning “tradecraft review” last week, which exposed severe irregularities and partisan corruption in the intelligence community’s assessment of alleged Russian meddling.
The review revealed that under orders from then-President Barack Obama, Brennan, Comey, and former DNI James Clapper operated an unorthodox, highly secretive assessment that bypassed standard intelligence protocols. The effort, which led to years of baseless collusion accusations against Trump, was marked by “excessive involvement of agency heads,” “a highly compressed production timeline,” and deliberate exclusion of other intelligence agencies.
The report squarely placed Brennan at the center of the operation, accusing him of prioritizing political narrative over analytical integrity. Brennan reportedly pushed to include the unverified and debunked Steele Dossier in the intelligence assessment — despite strong objections from CIA analysts.
“When confronted with flaws in the Dossier, Brennan seemed more concerned with preserving the anti-Trump narrative than ensuring the accuracy of the intelligence,” the report noted.
The findings prompted Ratcliffe to formally refer Brennan for investigation. DOJ officials have confirmed that Comey is also under criminal scrutiny, though the specific charges under consideration remain undisclosed.
“Brennan violated the public’s trust and should be held accountable,” one official told Fox News.
The criminal probes mark a dramatic turning point in the years-long fight to hold intelligence officials accountable for what many believe was a politically motivated operation to undermine Donald Trump before he ever took office.